xwwt writes: Microsoft is struggling to find an appropriate place for its new phones including the upcoming Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II. Some advertisements have show MS employees going head-to-head with other platform users to "prove" that the Windows mobile platform outperforms other devices and platforms. But is this the right strategy for Microsoft which has often brought hardware to market only to fail in user interface and eventually abandon the user base and technology?

In an article by gottamobile.com, slides of Microsoft's go-forward strategy have surfaced showing MS will be trying to position its mobile devices with at $10M spend over three years to "ringfence" developers into building apps to draw users to the platform. You have to ask though, will having Instagram or Pandora really going to drive users to purchase the platform?

xwwt writes: Wil Wheaton is working with Felicia Day on a new show called Tabletop on the YouTube Channel Geek and Sundry. The show will be about board games and gaming in general.
The first show airs April 2nd.

xwwt writes: The National Library of Israel has recently uploaded manuscripts created by Newton and help to uncover some of his personality and thoughts, especially around his feeling about the esoteric nature of some of his studies. In general Sir. Isaac felt that there were mystical secrets to be uncovered as evidenced in his attempts to unlock scientific secrets from the Bible and Talmud. Of particular note, this collection contains several manuscripts on the topics of alchemy and religion.

The SEC documentation explains Google's exit from Clearwire as an act of rebalancing its portfolio of investments, but a more candid assessment would be that Google expects Clearwire to sink beneath its mountain of debt and is getting out while it can.

xwwt writes: The Microrobotics team at Harvard University discovered a new process for making robotic drones that reduces error rate in assembly by 85% and is an automated process. Additionally scientists have created the process to move directly from design to manufacturing without the need for tooling or process changes that often foul manufacturing changes. The big breakthrough in this process is the use of origami like folding techniques that allow the sheets to be printed in 2D form and reformed into 3D shape. Video can be found here.

The product contains a combination of paper and polypropylene (PP) which aids in recycling efforts and is intended to keep non-recyclable materials out of landfills. The PP should breakdown in sunlight and can be reclaimed. There is concern that polypropylene cannot be separated from the paper fiber and brings into question how the material will be recycled. As poster Paul Davis points out, it might have been better to use polylactic acid. Ultimately it begs the question, is this truly a recyclable material?

xwwt writes: G-Form has a nice video of an iPad launched into the stratosphere via weather balloon and protected using its new protective gear "Extreme Edge" to see how well the gear worked in the iPad free fall to Earth.

The gear is being introduced at this year's CES where our own timothy will be attending and reviewing new products.The cool part of this whole video is really that the iPad survives the free fall from space, remaining fully functional